Islamabad, Feb 06: The United States is persuading Pakistan to grant "Most Favoured Nation (MFN)" status to India, as part of its efforts to normalise ties between the two countries, media reported today. The commercial secretary of us embassy in Islamabad was in contact with Pakistan's commerce ministry to convince Pakistani government on the need for stepping up trade ties with India, local daily Dawn reported. During the informal meetings, the US Embassy officials tried to find issues which forbade Pakistan to reciprocate India's gesture of granting MFN status to Pakistan, it said.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and foreign secretary Riaz Kokhar last moth had assured visiting Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy that a draft was being prepared to grant trade concessions to India.


New Delhi extended the MFN status to Pakistan under the SAARC charter several years ago.


However, Pakistan's commerce minister, Humayun Akthar continues to maintain that Islamabad would not grant the MFN status until India begin talks on Kashmir and the dialogue made some progress, the daily said.


The MFN status was seen as the key to persuade India to attend the Saarc summit which has already been postponed by Pakistan, accusing India of delaying response to its invitation.


Islamabad now proposes to hold the summit in July and the MFN draft was expected to be ready by that time. Bureau Report